Kiddo Update

Wow! These two young 'uns have kept us busy the past several weeks. Going from one to two kids & getting ready for Christmas really has had me hoppin'. So here is a long post to fill you in on the month of November!

Zachary turned 3 months over Thanksgiving weekend - so he's officially not a "newborn" any longer. I have to say that I am glad. I am much better with older babies that sleep a bit longer at night, are on somewhat of a routine and start all those cute interactions. Zachary now bats his toys and will play for a long time under his gym or in his bouncy seat. Very cute! He also follows voices and will turn a complete 180 to look at me no matter where I am in the room - yep, he has my heart strings.

At 3 months he was sleeping one stretch of 5-7 hours at night, then feeding every 2.5-4 hours again. I had to drop the feeding before I went to bed because he either would not be awake enough to eat or would wake up too much - so his long sleeping stretch starts right after dinner... Unfortunately that doesn't align with my night! He is still not a good napper. Most naps are just 30-45 minutes. So by the afternoon he is grumpy and not very alert or playful. I just can't figure out how to get him to sleep more. I've tried rocking, paci, swinging, crying, patting back, strolling.... Nothing works - but I figure that he will eventually even out like Alicia did. He has pretty much given up sleeping in the swing, stroller or car (unless it is going >50 mph without stopping). So that doesn't make him very portable around town while I do Christmas errands. He stays awake the entire time!

Here's a pic of Daddy and Zachary in their Sunday afternoon attire pulling for the Dolphins! We think that the Truluck guys dressing out for the game have been bringing the team luck!

Alicia is enjoying being big sister more and more. Here is a cute pic of them cuddling in her crib.

She is getting a little bit better at sharing lately. However, she expects Z to always share and is really enjoying playing with all his early Christmas presents. She has discovered the words "my" and "mine" and tries them out everything - even things that are clearly not hers. I never realized how awful those words could sound until they came out of the mouth of my 2 yr. old. She speaks in complete sentences often now even if her grammar needs work! She sings all the time - lately it has been "Happy Birthday ______" (substitute anything: everybody, bread, ice cream, Alicia, Jesus, couch....) and "Jingle Bells."

She also is becoming a bit compassionate towards others. Trey cut his finger last week and wore a band-aid for a few days. Alicia was so worried about his boo-boo. One morning at breakfast she told Trey, "Pray for Daddy's boo-boo" and then folds her hands and says, "Jesus help Daddy boo-boo feel better." It was soooo sweet and precious.

Alicia also figured out that Mommy and Daddy have real names and will sometimes call us Trey and Kelly. The first time we realized it was one evening when Trey was putting lotion on her after her bath and it tickled - she exclaimed, "Oh, my gosh! You so funny Trey!" We try to correct her without making it a big deal. She will call us Mom and Dad a lot too. I don't know where she picked that up - but she is way to young to drop the "Mommy"!!

Here are some Thanksgiving pics!

Alicia & Zachary with cousins Fisher and Eelco

Yummy Turkey Cookie! It's amazing how many veggies she will eat for a turkey cookie!